Marlow, New Hampshire & the Missing Squidoo

Silly title, because -- my source for this post has been taken down.

There was a very informative Squidoo lens, which apparently had to be locked due to spam infiltration.  I hope they didn't mean me....

Here's the link in case it comes back up...

http://www.squidoo.com/marlowhistorynh

So, the lens was a very interesting page from "owlperson" -- here's owlperson -- http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/owlperson

They had a lot of good local history about Marlow, New Hampshire and a lot of it related to the Mack family.  I will keep checking the link to see if it comes back up.  Anyway, a good chunk of it had to do with the Mack family, which as previous blog posts indicate, intrigue me due to the relationship to Joseph Smith.  I posed the question to owlperson about the possibility of African ancestry coming from the Mack line.  I received this reply, and I am posting it here because it's very informative and has new leads for me to follow:

owlperson said:
Hi, I'm really sorry that the Marlow-Lyme lens had to be withdrawn because of spammers coming through links to a Forum which turned out to be spam-heaven; however, I found your last message still intact. 

 I wouldn't be in the least surprised to find African blood in any of the descendants of the Marlow folk for exactly the reason you state. I looked up some members of the Mack family in one of the Carolinas (I think) and found them to of quite dark skin tone. I believe Macks had plantations on Barbados. I suspect that Aaron Huntley I of Lyme, related to the Macks, had an alternative family in the Carolinas. I would not be surprised if they were people of color. 

Also, although Solomon Gee, one of our early settlers from Lyme and also related to the Mack family, was apparently a clothier, that would have involved, at the least, importation of cotton and exotic fibers, but probably also cotton cultivation. The related DeWofe family of Lyme and RI was involved in every sort of trade you can imagine, including slave trade. I have a puzzle here in Marlow, a fellow living with or beside Lois Huntley (" called a widow" before the death of her husband Christopher Ayers) called Libares Aries (Libares Ayers?). Doesn't it sort of make you wonder who he was, what his role was, what his ancestry was, and what he looked like??

Joseph Smith and Jewish Privateers

I have been accumulating some interesting sources about the possibility of Sephardic Jewish ancestry for Joseph Smith.  I didn't want to just let the cat out of the bag, but I have to start somewhere.

First of all, there is the fact of Balthazar DeWolf.  I was quick to research him, because I like his name.  He is a great grandfather (exact greats presently unknown)  to Joseph Smith, through Solomon Mack.   Also, my 10th great grandparent.  You can find a lot of information about him and his family on the web. 

First off, the DeWolf family is supposed to  be responsible for funding around 25% of the slave trade in North America.  Beyond embarrassing.  The internets tell me there was a tradition of privateering in the family, which basically amounts to government-sanctioned piracy. 

And several sites have indicated the DeWolfs and others involved in the Triangle Trade were crypto- Sephardic Jews.  One of these sources was even the Rhode Island Jewish Community Center. They are facing facts, so why shouldn't we?

I found a new article today from a Dr Elizabeth Hirschman that cites there is DNA evidence for a group of Crypto- Jews in England who were involved in naval activity and privateering. 

She says:

The research to be presented argues that a large, but largely unacknowledged, group of crypto-Jewish Britons of Sephardic descent was present in England from the reign of Henry VIII onward to that of his daughter Elizabeth I, and that this community played a key role in guiding Britain’s naval development and New World colonization efforts. In particular, the new data source of DNA will be introduced as a way to support efforts of historical revision.

http://h06.cgpublisher.com/proposals/343/index_html

She does give some names of which the names of my family units are not mentioned, so the link is through occupation, place and intimation of religion. 

I found this particularly interesting:

Among the most prominent of this set of mariners were Sir Walter Ralegh, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Phillip Sidney, Robert Cavendish, John Hawkins, Richard Grenville and Martin Frobisher. This group was united by its origins in southwestern England (Cornwall and Devon), its fervent Protestantism and marked anti-Catholicism, and its antipathy for Spain. Less known, but perhaps of even greater importance, is that the group of privateers was also bonded closely by marriage, kinship and business dealings – in some cases spanning several generations.

This gives me something to check for when looking at individuals surrounding the DeWolf line. I have noticed some strong intermarriage tendencies in other lines neighboring the Mack/Smith connection but I do not believe they originate from Southwestern England.